Lebanese Confessional Societies

The Lebanese confessional societies reflect the tensions
at the heart of Lebanese society. While Muslims and Christians have
lived together in Lebanon for over a century, their deep disagreements
over the Lebanese political formula and state make it unrealistic to
treat all Lebanese as members of one social unit.

Since the creation of the republic, the Lebanese have disagreed over
the identity of the new state. Although Muslims, specifically the
Sunnis, were inclined toward a close association with Greater Syria and
the Arab world, Christians, particularly the Maronites, opted for
linking Lebanon culturally and politically to the Western world.
Christians were not opposed to economic cooperation with Arab countries,
to which Lebanon exported most of its products, but they insisted on
distinguishing Lebanon's foreign policy from that of its Arab neighbors.
The question was not whether Lebanon should be Arab, since as early as
1943 the National Pact (the governing formula) declared Lebanon as
having "an Arab face." Rather, the postindependence debate was
really over how Arab Lebanon should be. This debate was exacerbated in
the 1950s by former Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser's pan-Arab
activism on the one hand, and former Lebanese President Camille Shamun's
(also seen as Chamoun) pro-Western administration on the other.

The controversy over the identity of Lebanon extended beyond the
political realm to encompass questions of culture and literature as
these were presented in school textbooks. Muslims in general, as well as
the Greek Orthodox, insisted that Arab and Islamic culture and
literature should be emphasized, whereas Uniate Christians refused to
commit Lebanese education to what they considered an inferior culture.
The Maronite political movement viewed Lebanon's culture as
distinctively Lebanese in its origins and values.

Regardless of sectarian affiliation, Lebanon has no civil code for
personal matters. Lebanese citizens therefore live and die according to
sectarian stipulations. Each sect has its own set of personal status
laws that encompass such matters as engagement, marriage, dowry,
annulment of marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. These laws
are binding on the individual, whether one is a practicing member of the
sect or not. The confessional system of personal-status laws strengthens
the role of communal religious leaders and impedes the evolution of
Lebanese nationalist or universalist secular ideas.

The economic history of Lebanon has been marred by an unequal
distribution of national income and misallocation of benefits and funds.
The central government tended to regard the regions that were annexed to
what was Mount Lebanon in 1920 as marginal parts of Lebanon.
Furthermore, the centralization of government in Beirut worsened the
conditions of the rural areas, luring many Lebanese to crowded,
confessional community, poverty belts around the metropolitan center.
The central government's neglect of southern Lebanon, particularly,
contributed to a feeling of humiliation by the Shias, who in 1987
constituted the largest sectarian community.

The economic situation in peripheral Lebanon, which geographically
comprises the provinces of Al Janub and, Al Biqa, and the Akkar region
in Ash Shamal Province, differed sharply from that around Beirut.
Economic exploitation was more evident in these areas, with the
dominance of feudalistic production patterns. The land was divided among
a small elite, and working conditions on the large estates were harsh.
In addition, state services were scarce outside the capital. Beirut and
its suburbs became politically and socially explosive when people from
the impoverished periphery migrated to the city and came in contact with
the affluent city dwellers.